“For us on VE Day there were no celebrations” - Lincolnshire veteran recalls liberation mission 70 years ago today

Jack Quinn from Mablethorpe was far from celebration on VE Day after travelling to the Channel Islands to bring back German Occupation Forces. EMN-150105-125749001

Published:12:06Updated:14:36Friday 08 May 2015

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Gunfire and hardship as victory came

Jack, now 90, was part of the Royal Marines task force sent to liberate the Channel Islands and bring back the surrendering German Occupation Forces.

Jack Quinn was a Royal Marine. EMN-150105-125725001

As the milestone 70th anniversary of VE Day approaches this Friday, May 8, Jack, can still vividly remember the events.

“We set sail from Southampton at 23.00 and we arrived at 6am,” Jack explained.

“We were brought in very quietly as not to alert the German SS that we were coming and we didn’t know what to expect. It was quite mad to start with as they were firing and shouting at us, but we managed to get through and we spread out.

“But one of the first things I can remember from arriving in Jersey was seeing a Woolworths store and I couldn’t believe it.

“We immediately ran into trouble, some of the German SS had young women tied up to chairs at the keyside and were shaving their hair off, so we had to get in there and try to stop them. At the time, the SS were manic and didn’t believe that it was all over.”

Jack also remembers the hardship of the civilians who were left to starve on the island and what they had to deal with.

“Throughout Jersey and Guernsey, the civilians were very pleased to see us when we got there as Churchill had cut the island off. Nothing had been allowed in or out for the last six years and everyone was literally starving,” Jack said.

“The German soldiers held back all the food, including tomatoes and potatoes, and left nothing to the civilians but the peelings. When we arrived, they offered us some potato peel pie which they had learned to make and it tasted disgusting.

“No-one was even allowed out at night after 7pm either. Apart from the SS, everyone was on curfew, even the normal German soldiers were not seen out.

“We managed to round up the prisoners and get them on the boat so that could be taken back to Southampton.

“For us on VE and the day that followed there were no celebrations for us, far from it.”